Toluene as an octane booster?

[Mr Nice Guy]

Has anybody heard of or used this? I've read about it on the net and was wondering if it's safe or benificial for our cars? Would it be worth it to use some of this in my tank on track days or is 93 all it needs? Thanks guys...Later

http://www.elektro.com/~audi/audi/toluene.html

[Joe 1320]

Yep. One of the "home brews" us Turbo Buick guys have used for years. I prefer a 25% mix of Xylene with pump unleaded with the addition of 1 ounce of marvel mystery oil per gallon of Xylene used. this will give you an honest 100 octane. Curious though.... why would you need the extra octane? The higher the octane, the slower the fuel wants to burn and unless you are running a power adder, doubtful that it would be a need for it. It could actually slow you down. For stock type cars, stick with the pump stuff. Marvel Mystery Oil is used to replesh the lubricating properties present in pump fuel that becomes diluted with the addition of 25% xylene.

[Mr Nice Guy]

So my mostly stock LT1 will run best on 93? I know too much octane is bad but wasn't sure if anything over 93 would be noticeably benifical or not. Thanks again....Later

[Rob]

I used to run Xylene in the TA before I went water/alky injection. Works but gets to be a pain always mixing gas at the gas station.

[Performin Norman]

Yes, like everyone has said. This is very common practice.

[Injuneer]

Originally posted by Mr Nice Guy
So my mostly stock LT1 will run best on 93? I know too much octane is bad but wasn't sure if anything over 93 would be noticeably benifical or not. Thanks again....Later

You may benefit under certain conditons... a 7-year old car could have carbon deposits that have raised compression ratio. Or hot spots in the heads. On a hot day, or with high coolant temps, or a bad tank of fuel, you could run into a situation where your ECM is pulling timing in response to detonation (knock). The only way to know if you have this problem is to use a scanner to keep track of knock retard, and to upgrade the fuel when you find you are having a problem.

9 times out of 10, your engine is going to be very happy with 93 octane. But unless you monitor for knock retard you can't be sure.

Be sure to read and follow the safety precautions if you decide to handle Toluene or Xylene.